The instant invention concerns a method and an apparatus for making shafts, whereby a device working from the top towards the bottom is used for sinking the shaft, and the shaft space thus obtained is provided with wallings comprising sections which are connectable with each other and each forming a circle.
In the production of vertical shafts it is known in the art to first drill an initial borehole with a comparatively small diameter and subsequently to widen said initial borehole to a larger diameter, whereby the resultant rocks are removed through the borehole. Such a method, however, is not applicable when it is not desired, or not possible, to drill an initial borehole.
This holds true for all such cases in which a dead-end shaft should be produced. Such type of shafts have in the prior art been sunk using the plate-propulsion method, whereby the rocks had to be loosened by hand and moved upwards by means of a special device. Such a working method is not only costly but it is connected with great danger for the personnel working at the bottom of the shaft.
The installation of wallings in a shaft in the prior art has mostly been accomplished in a manner whereby a special stage or platform is provided at a distance above the working area in which the propulsion work is being performed, with those people located on said platform being charged with the task of assembling the individual sections of the wallings at that area, whereby the additional sections are adjoined to the already installed sections of the walling in a downward direction. Such a method necessitates tremendous costs, it is time-consuming and produces dangers for the workers. Additionally, normally the final walling of the shaft is not yet completed, before there are further measures required, for example the rear-pouring with concrete of a walling consisting of sheet metals in order to obtain the type of a shaft which will be able to withstand the expected stresses and which only then renders the shaft suitable for the respective purposes for which it is designed.
It is an object of the instant invention to overcome the above disadvantages and to provide a method for the favorable production of dead-end shafts with a final walling, whereby the utilization of personnel working in the shaft can be made extensively or even entirely unnecessary.